Mihael Paar » chamber music

2009/10 Season closure – Baermann’s Quintet to set up a new collaboration

MihaelPaar.com — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:08:32 +0000

Closure of the 2009/10 season brought Mihael’s first appearance with the Samobor Strings, the young unconducted chamber orchestra entering its third subscription year. The concert was held at Samobor’s St. Anastasia Parish Church and featured the works of Mozart, Baermann and Smetana, while for the first time Ensemble being introduced in forms of various smaller chamber groups.

Thus, the Baermann’s virtuoso Quintet for clarinet and strings was performed by the string quartet with Mihael Paar as a guest soloist on this particular occasion. The Quintet is one of those works written for a clarinettist by a clarinettist; idiomatic in the texture, but rounded in the content and musical richness. Ironically, the greatest recognition Baermann would receive for his last long forgotten Quintet emerged in the form of a false attribution; approaching its first modern performance, the Quintet’s central movement went credited as an early work of the great Richard Wagner and remained as such on the repertoire for the entire half of the century. Fortunately, there can be no doubt today as wether this divining Adagio derives from the Baermann’s pen and belongs to his Quintet op. 23.

Its praised Samobor premiere gave a symbolic prelude to the newly established collaboration of the Samobor Strings and their guest soloist.

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Europassion – Mozart Quintet with Zagreb String Quartet

MihaelPaar.com — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:49:26 +0000

“First part of the concert featured the clarinetist Mihael Paar as a soloist in the Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A-major K581. This 4-movement piece of profane attributes in a formation fast-slow-menuet with trio-fast (closing Theme with variations) was composed in 1789 and inspired by clarinetist Anton Stadler, the solo-clarinetist of the Vienna’s Court’s Kapelle.

Mihael Paar shows the features of his basset clarinet performance acquired by many European clarinetists, and these are – in addition to outstanding intonation, superb techinque, great dynamic range – compilance in the chamber texture.”

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Europassion 2009 – Gala opening featuring Mihael Paar

MihaelPaar.com — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:51:19 +0000

Mihael Paar was particularly honoured receiving the invitation to perform at the Gala opening of the Passion Heritage, distinguished festival which annually takes place shortly before the eve of Easter in Zagreb and other Croatian cities. The acknowledgment is even greater as his festival collaborator – the famous Zagreb Quartet known as the Croatian oldest chamber ensemble and the oldest active string quartet in the world – celebrates its 90th birthday in the course of 2009. The special occasion brought us a special programme feature: Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet K581 saw the light through its Croatian Integral Premiere and thus was performed on the basset clarinet, with Mihael Paar as the first Croatian clarinetist ever to do so. The Gala event took place on March 29 in one of the most beautiful Croatian baroque churches – The St. Catherine’s in the historical Zagreb Upper Town. NOTE: Passion Heritage Festival is a member of the Europassion Association since 1998.

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Mozart’s 250th Anniversary at Closing Gala of European Week

MihaelPaar.com — Fri, 19 May 2006 14:52:47 +0000

Sebastian String Quartet and the clarinetist Mihael Paar who carried out the whole concert, presented themselves as the musicians of a highly sophisticated style and a strong inclination towards the works of the Viennese Clasics, especially those from the pen of W.A.Mozart. The programme offering what is the very best of Mozart set high objectives to the performers to which they, as already established artists, claimed with all good reason. Moreover special compliments go to the clarinetist Mihael Paar who, with the warmth of his instrument appeared to be an excellent counterbalance to the string quartet, performing at the same time as primus inter pares, yet without any pretensions that would lead him out of “chamber”. The artist studying at the famous Mozarteum School of Music in Salzburg for several years now, reveals in the interview after the concert that the style of his playing is distinctly German if not even entirely German, although he continues to play the French clarinet. To reach such a distinguished timbre, he has completely reformed the approach to his instrument, having also done corrections in impostation and respiratory technics. He points out that a sound like this so perfectly consistent with the works of Mozart, Schumann or Brahms, is being tended by the clarinetists coming from the German speaking areas which has been tradition ever since the time of A.Stadler, the clarinetist that Mozat wrote for. Clarinetists such as K. Leister, A.Brandhofer or W.Fuchs are among the best exponents of this tradition today.

It is also interesting to mention that Andrija Potroško, our well known contrabassist, a long time member of the famous Zagreb Soloists who did not hide his enthusiasm with the concert, in the end evoked his memories of the great Benny Goodman. Mr. Potroško was a member of the Symphony orchestra that Benny Goodman appeared with in Philadelphia in 1969 performing the famous Clarinet Concerto by W.A.Mozart. Mr. Potroško says that the expressiveness which he then experienced, he re-experienced today through the inspired performance of M.Paar, whose warm and rounded sound tranquilly celebrated over the aura of the Mozart’s masterpiece.”

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